By Alexandra Watson
“Are you familiar with ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’?” asks a student working on a textual analysis. I hesitate for a moment. For a while, I was uncertain about how to answer questions like these in consultations. Should I tell the truth, that I’ve read and reread the “Letter,” have taught it as the object of textual analysis in my freshman composition class? Or should I downplay my authority to dramatize the presence of an unwitting reader?
The question of how much “authority” to exhibit in a writing consultation seems central to our work. When I say authority, I mean our sense of expertise and knowledge; especially when it comes to a specific subject, method, text, or form our students are working on. When I first started working as a writing consultant, I thought that I should underrepresent my authority for a few reasons. I wanted to come across as an ally. I wanted to eliminate the idea that I was supposed to evaluate their work as a professor would. And I wanted students to explain their work as if I knew little about the specific subject, because I know that’s the ethos of much academic writing.
But I realized that, when I feigned ignorance, I felt I was selling students short. Furthermore, I felt insincere.
The truth is, the students we work with think of us as authorities, at least on writing. Our biographies, outlining our teaching, educational, and publishing histories, are posted on the writing center website and on the intake forms the students use to make an appointment. I think the answer to my question of what to do with my authority, at least for my own work, is to be honest and transparent. I haven’t read all the texts that they’re working with, and I can say that.
I can also have authority, and be transparent about the fact that I am just one reader. I can say that I’m a freshman composition instructor, yet remind the student that I am not their instructor, and I won’t be evaluating their work. I can say, “Yes, I’ve read ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’ Tell me what interests you about it.”
Published October 22, 2015
